4/20/2006

hey man check at me rocking out...

so i joined al lowe'scyberjoke 3000 mailing list the other day.the joke quality is straight out of liesure suit larry 3... you know, the bit in the comedy club where the guy tells hundreds of kinda funny, kinda lame, mostly entertaining jokes.but he also normally sends some interesting links with the jokes.today's link is awesome.RadioLovers.comthey offer old radio shows in mp3 format for free download.they even have that old classic "who's on first."unfortunately varsity seems to block mp3 downloads :(go thank al lowe by joining the cyberjoke 3000 mailing list(you don't need to join yahoo groups... you can just sign up for the mailing list)

as for a little gaming news:the magic box has a few pictures of a new metal slug game heading for the playstation 2."another one?" you may be thinking. "what makes this newsworthy?" i hear you cry, gnashing your teeth in misunderstanding and anguish...well... how about a totally 3D metal slug?i'd heard rumours, but they were all over a year old and i passed them off as a photoshopper's pipe dream (or closet fantasy).but it seems to be true :) a full 3D metal slug!if that doesn't tickle your fancy (float your boat, peel your bananam whatever) then you obviously aren't interested!

talking about gaming...i haven't really mentioned one of my intrests on this blog, but if you know me you probably know i have a bit of a fixation on abandon games.abandon games are basically games that have been abandoned by the copyright holders. some particularly nice companies (like rockstar games who allow you to download GTA and GTA2 for free) actually release their old games into the freeware domain. free to download and enjoy. unfortunately some companies keep their money-grubbing talons firmly embedded into their aging software, trying to wring the last few cents out of the nostalgia factor.but mostly old games just get forgotten about and the companies don't really care about them anymore. they are still copyrighted, but the companies don't enforce said copyright and the games are effectively "abandoned."some people claim that abandon games are free and legal.bullshit!they should be, but unless the company actually releases the copyright, or the copyright expires (and i don't believe any have yet... copyrights last for ages) you can still be nailed for copying the games. most companies could be bothered though. most companies don't even remember what DOS was and if it isn't hitting their latest titles or their budget wares then they abandon following it up.anyway.. that's just an informative sidetrack.guess what i found while visiting my parents' place last night...well go on, guess...you got the answer in your mind?ok...i found my old original copies of duke nukem 3D, doom II, alien vs predator, GTA (and london mission disk), and tomb raider revelations.I also have the quake 3 (not really abandoned) originals somewhere, and ufo: enemy unknown (also known as xcom).unfortunately my quake and quake2 disks are missing :( although i do still have the boxes. and my descent 2, syndicate wars, and syndicate disks and boxes are gone :(i also have the originals of DOS 6.22 and the manual.(i need to back those up).apparently sierra have the liesure suit larry collection and space quest collection out for sale which include pretty much everything involved with those titles.man i'd love to get my hands on those... but i haven't seen them anywhere in this country (and i do keep my eye out for them).

if abandon games intrest you here are some links:

getting them to run can be really difficult. DOSbox is a great DOS emulator (orvirtual DOS machine). it gets most things running.

a nice frontend to simplify DOSbox (for all you non-DOS literate people) is available, called Dfend.

another nice little program to get all the SCUMM games running (like monkey island, am and max, etc... lucasarts stuff) is SCUMMVM.

an alternative to the above is to use window's native virtual dos machine. since it isn't purpose built for gaming it isn't the best, but it can run a surprising amount... but you'll need some DOS sound emulation. and VDMS provides, emulating a soundblaster in the virtual dos machine.

a nice frontend for window's virtual DOS machine is called abandon loader. basically it just makes running the things a little easier.

1up.com has a nice little feature called freeloader that finds and reviews freeware games (including abandon games that have been released). the link is about half way through the series. just hit the archive link and find what you want.

a good abandon site called abandonia has plenty to look at and download and also have all sorts of game manuals and midi files, and usefull utilities. they also have links to various other abondon sites.

abandonia's sister site abandonia reloaded is a freeware games site with plenty to look through and download.

another nice abondon site is abandoneer. they have a nice little selection and links to other sites.

and finally: the abandonware blog. a recently started blog looking at the abandon scene and doing reviews and links and whatnot.

now that is a wealth of resources for you if you're interested in that sort of thing.don't say i never gave ya nuffink!

3 Comments:

i wondered about my original copy of syndicate, pagan ultima vii, strike commander and whatever the fourth game is for years - it turned out spot had stolen it when he left our apartment. if you can do a suitable amount of convincing then i might burn it for you. one day. you know how it is.

bullfrog really pissed me off when they realized that syndicate was being passed across as abandonware, and suddenly resumed persuing their copyright. the only reason they cared at all is that they discovered more potential monies... and how many people are REALLY serious enough to pay for it? hell, i ain't seen no repackaged syndicate ANYWHERE in this country!

but syndicate did give me a solid (duidelik) excuse to check out dosbox, and it IS the shiznit.

and as for companies like rockstar - RESPECT! and respect IS everything. gta2 r0xx0rs my world, yo'.

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